Hole Lot of Trouble
by stretch the faunlet
Summary: Mantis takes on a seemingly harmless and innocent dare by Tigress, thinking that it's not that big of a deal... until she gets the last laugh. No romance. One-shot. EXTRA CHAPTER ADDED!
1. Chapter 1

**HOLE Lot of Trouble**

"Why out of everyday in the WORLD I have to be stuck with you?"

Viper looked offended. "What's wrong with being around me?"

"No, no, not you," Mantis replied quickly, peering into the hole. "I'm fine with you, Vipe, you know that. It's just _Miss-Meow-Kitty-Claws_ right next to you I have a problem with."

Tigress scowled at him. "I will literally crush you with my fist in about five seconds here if you keep talking shi-"

"Yeah, yeah," he responded, rolling his eyes. "Sure you will..."

"You don't think I will?" Tigress popped out her claws to prove a point. "Keep talking and we'll see who's right."

"I don't think your best friend would like it if you killed her boyfriend who, by the way, can take on ANY dare you throw at me!" Mantis turned briefly to glare at her. "So bring it on, kitty cat!"

"Shut up!"

"_Meow, meow_!"

"I will kill you!"

"I forgot to eat my catnip!"

"_Shut up_!"

"Guys..." Viper glanced around worriedly between the two, trying to maintain whatever peace was available. "Stop fighting. Please? Let's just, forget this whole dare thing and have a nice long apology over lunch!" She began to slither away, hoping to coax her boyfriend and her best friend to follow her back inside.

Neither of them budged from their spot. "Sorry Vipe," Mantis replied, moving closer to the hole, "but I am not letting Tigress win this dare."

Viper groaned, annoyed, rolling her eyes. "What was the dare again?"

"Tigress dared me to go into that hole and then come back out again," Mantis explained, motioning to the hole he currently stood in front of.

Viper's eyes met the hole, and she frowned at the size of it. "Uhh... Mantis... I don't think you'll fit in there."

"That's precisely the point," Tigress chuckled quietly to herself, smirking.

Mantis sighed, turning toward Viper. "Babe, I'm a bug. We can fit through the tiniest cracks and crevices."

"But do you see the size of that hole?" Viper questioned, motioning toward the hole. "Only a worm could fit through there."

"I have the heart of a worm," Mantis calmly replied. "And that's what will get me in there and out." He poked his head through the hole, seeing only darkness. It was mostly dirt, but when he patted the dirt with his pincher, it felt like a much harder type of soil. He took in a deep breath. "Well... Here it goes."

Viper turned away, covering her face with her tail. "I can't watch... He's gonna get stuck in there."

Tigress' smirk only grew bigger, waiting for Mantis to fail the dare right before her eyes.

With his head still inside, Mantis reached one of his pinchers through the hole and used the side as a leverage of sorts, pushing his other pincher through with some difficult. Already the hole felt a bit tight around him, but he felt just a bit of wiggle room.

"Try to suck in your gut," Tigress snickered, while Viper turned to give her a glare.

"Shut up, pussycat!" He retorted, clawing at the dirt to push himself even a bit further. He was able to shimmy himself a bit inside, but then he reached a certain point where the hole tightly clamped down around his middle half, refusing to let him go further. A little, itty bitty voice in his head told him that maybe Viper was right and that he should back out and call it quits, but he would not give Tigress that satisfaction.

From the outside, Tigress and Viper watched as Mantis kicked his legs around, visibly and noticeably having trouble getting through. "Having trouble, short stuff?" Tigress called out, smirking. This was turning out to be a very great day for her.

He squirmed around a bit more, using every ounce of strength to try and push himself through. "No," he grunted, "I'm perfectly peachy. Can't you tell?"

"Really now?" Came her amused response. "Then what's taking you so long?"

"Nothing!" He placed his pinchers on the border of the hole, pushing hard. "I'm getting through perfectly fine!"

"Doesn't look like it..."

"Well you're obviously looking at an illusion, because I am perfectly fine and -" he used his back legs to try and push against the dirt on the outside. "- am not stuck!"

Tigress raised an eyebrow. "Really now?"

"Yes, really!"

"You look pretty stuck to me."

Out of breath, Mantis slumped forward. "Well... I'm not."

"Then why'd you stop?"

"Because the hole is too small!" he admitted. "I'm not stuck, I just can't fit. That's all... nothing more."

"I thought you had the heart of a worm?" She chuckled.

"That was a metaphor!"

Tigress rolled her eyes. "Obviously," she snorted.

Mantis sighed, preparing to back out. The hole was much to tight around his lower half for him to squeeze through... He hated to admit it, but there was no way to win this dare. "Okay... You win Tigress. I'm coming back out."

Nothing happened.

After a few moments, Viper stared worriedly at the hole. "Mantis?"

"Hmm?"

"Can you get out?"

He hesitated. "Umm..." there was a pause. "I can't."

"You can't get out?"

"Yeah," came a slight whimper, and Tigress could not contain the laugh that escaped from her.

Viper frowned. "Do you need help?"

"Yes!" he began kicking his legs frantically, trying to push himself backward out of the hole. He wasn't budging; the hole refused to let go of him either way now, and Mantis was _slightly_ panicking.

And the word _'slightly'_ was a huge understatement.

"_I'm gonna die_!" Came his terrified response. "I can't breath and I'm getting _CLAUSTROPHOBIC_!" He continued to squirm, all the while shrieking at the top of his lungs.

Tigress, for probably the first time in her life, was doubled over laughing. "That's what you get for all those _'kitty cat'_ jokes!"

"Tigress, this is serious!" Viper scolded, now standing before the hole, inspecting it up close to see what she could do to help Mantis. "He's obviously terrified! Have at least a little sympathy!"

"I'm going blind!" Came another shriek from inside the hole. "It's so dark! _I CAN'T SEE_!"

Tigress had calmed down a bit, taking a deep breath from all the laughing. "Ahh... Viper, Mantis is the last person I'd ever have sympathy for."

Viper now had her tail wrapped around Mantis' legs, trying to pull him out. "Well I could use a little help here!"

"You know what: You're right." Tigress stood still, staring off into the distance.

The snake continued yanking Mantis, but she stopped momentarily when she noticed Tigress still standing there. "Uhh, Tigress?"

"Hmm?"

"Aren't you going to get help?"

"Yes," Tigress sighed, chuckling. She still did not move.

There was a long moment of silence before finally Viper snapped, frustrated, "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Are you going to get help or not?"

"I will, I will," Tigress responded, still smiling widely. "I'm just trying to get in as much entertainment from this as possible."

"Note to self: No more kitty-cat jokes," Mantis whimpered from inside the hole.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Another shower idea. XD I could just see this happening in my head and I had to write it. Poor Mantis. Life rule 1: don't mess with Tigress. Cause of she won't get you one way, she'll get you in another, much more sneakier way.**

**Guys don't ever learn. XD Lol.**

**Side note: On the 15th of March I'll be moving (fucking finally), so I won't have Internet for a while, since it took two weeks (mostly procrastination on my parents' part) to get internet installed the last time we moved (which was three years ago). We're FINALLY moving into our OWN home again! And it's a nice home too! And finally: A backyard! I haven't lived in a house, let alone a house with a backyard, for FIVE years! It feels like an eternity...**

**Anyway, yeah. Just a little heads-up that I won't be online for awhile after the 15th. But I wont be gone for good! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"You know what's funny and somewhat ironic?"

"Hmm?"

"I'd expect Po to get stuck in a hole," Crane admitted, tilting his head slightly at the tiny hole and at the familiar tiny feet sticking out of said-hole. "Not Mantis. Anyone but Mantis, really..."

It was currently night time in the Valley of Peace. The Dragon Warrior and the rest of the Furious Five surrounded the hole, which Mantis was still stuck in. They tried to help... Well, Po and Viper tried to, anyway... Crane and Monkey simply could not even look at the poor bug without cracking a smile or breaking into full-on laughter, and Tigress was just annoyed; her amusement faded hours ago.

Mantis had calmed down a bit from his earlier panicking, but was still terrified nonetheless... He just tried not to scream or freak out at the fact that, no matter how hard they pushed or pulled, he was not budging from the hole. The only thing he could do to calm his racing nerves, was to start singing. _"Can you feel the love tonight?"_

"Oh Gods..." Tigress moaned, rolling her eyes in an annoyed fashion. "Anything but that stupidly annoying song..."

In turn, Mantis rolled his eyes. "Okay..." there was a long moment of silence as he tried to think of another song to sing. _"Sha-la-la-la-la-la, don't be scared-"_

"NOT THAT SONG EITHER!"

"Alright, alright, sheesh..." Mantis shifted a bit, trying to get into a more comfortable position. The hole seemed to grow tighter and tighter around the lower half of his body with each passing hour... And he had been there for quite some time. Suddenly, Mantis began to blare out, _"I'LL MAKE A MAN, OUT OF YOOOOU-"_

"SHUT UP MANTIS!" Tigress, Crane, Monkey, Viper and even sweet, sometimes naive Po all yelled in unison.

From inside the hole, Mantis pouted. "You guys are no fun..."

"Maybe because we're stuck out here trying to think of a way to get you out!" Tigress replied, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Well maybe because this was all your brilliant idea!" Mantis retorted.

Under Shifu's orders, the rest of the five, mainly Tigress, had to get Mantis out of the hole before morning, otherwise they'd all be punished for a month. They tried everything possible: Pushing, pulling... Nothing seemed to work. Mantis would not, and could not budge from the hole. The hole simply refused to let him go from it's tight grasp.

"I was having my own personal fun at payback because you are such a pain in my ass!"

"Well thank you!"

"THAT WAS NOT A COMPLIMENT!"

"Okay, okay..." Po jumped in front of Tigress before she decided to go over to the stuck bug and do something drastic. "Let's just all calm down, and be happy... Happy and calm..."

There was a long moment of silence once more.

_"A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down,"_ Mantis began to sing._ "The medicine go down, medicine go down."_

Tigress immediately turned to leave, heading back inside. She stomped on the ground as she angrily stormed away.

"Ooh!" Viper brightened up noticeably. "I love that song!" She immediately began to sing along.

"I'm leaving." Crane shook his head, turning to leave the same way Tigress did.

"Ditto," Po and Monkey replied, quickly following after Tigress and Crane.

Viper however, stayed behind, sitting beside the hole where Mantis' legs stuck out of. _"Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down,"_ they sang, _"In a most delightful way!"_

How and when Mantis finally got out of the hole, is a mystery for all to wonder...

Or just another story to tell, for another day.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I got this idea during class. I know the songs Mantis sings are from Disney and Disney was obviously not around in ancient China... But I thought it'd be funny.**

**How he ends up getting out of the hole, is up for you to decide. Let's hope he ever got out...**


End file.
